A story
A long time ago, in a small home alongside the road, I lay asleep in bed with my wife.
It was Oregon, we were hippies, and we were poor. We had a friend Bob, staying with us.
I had been injured in a terrible accident and when the knock on the door came asking for help, I was unable to rise from the bed. I called out to Bob, "What does he want Bob?"
Some traveler had wrecked badly down the road.
"I fell asleep at the wheel" the stranger said, "truck went off the road and hit a tree. Could you help me?"
Bob had a bread van and the two took off down the road.
Many hours later Bob returned with an interesting story. Seems the stranger had almost all his wordly possessions in his truck and a trailer he was pulling. He and Bob spent all night and half the morning ferrying what was salvagable down to Winchester Bay. The wrecker got both truck and trailer and Bob assured me that they had scoured the area thoroughly.
The most interesting part was that the stranger had been ferrying his large "coi" (choi sp?) or carp, fish collection in the trailer. Large, colorful fish with huge fins....beautiful...very valuable. The entire collection was supposedly destroyed, very few were saved.
I thought a long time and insisted that Bob take me to the accident scene. There, I analyzed the sequence of events. I questioned Bob carefully and then began digging.
I realized that the trailer had dug in at the front, split open dumping the fish into the furrow and the back bumper had covered them over entirely with dirt. A small number of fish were buried alive!
I began uncovering these large beautiful fish. I immediately sent Bob back to the house for a bucket of creek water (our water supply) and my oxygen/acetylene torch and tanks. I uncovered 27 fish which we placed in the bucket. The oxygen was turned on and the torch inserted into the water.
Getting home, I thoroughly washed and rinsed the bathtub, inserted the fish and oxygen supply, turned off the light and went back to bed. No one used the bathroom for 24 hours. The cats were terrified...What in the hail is going on? they thought.
The next morning we checked the bathtub and 17 fish were alive and maintaining position in the tub.
I went out from the house to the creek and finding a wide area below a small waterfall, I began dammming up the creek with rocks and logs. I soon had a lake about the size of a car. In the center was a small island about the size of a door mat. I placed the 17 coi in the lake and for two months, no one went out there.
Then I spread the word in the small community of 80 people where we lived. On the following Sunday, my landlord George and his entire family, from old to baby...showed up asking to see the fish. They were decked out in their Sunday go to church finery and set for foolishness from us. We started towards the creek, me walking backwards, telling the story. We crept up on the little lake like thieves after chickens and peering over the edge, we saw, just under the waterfall, 11 of the most beautiful goldfish you have ever seen. Absolutely stunning!
A mere boychild (in Sunday suit and tie) complained that he couldn't see, and I scooped him up, stepped out to the island and perched there, sticking his head down just inches from the fish so he could really see them.
The word spread, people showed up (we had no phone) and I would do my act, telling the story, all of us sneaking up on the fish. The people ouuued, ahhhed, and wowieed. Great fun.
One morning I went out to have a look and a raccoon had eaten them all.
O.Lafaye
ola
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